Thanks for the review, Gilles. My 680 is about two years old and has also worked very well. I have also experienced the lower volume issue on SSB. But I have had none of the other problems you mentioned in this video. On DXpeditions out in the bush, dealing with very weak signals where there was no or very little movement of the S-meter, I have not had the volume suddenly disappear at all. So I'm not sure why your radio has this quirky characteristic. Strange. I have not experienced any overload with an external antenna either. I've connected antennas that are 80meters long (more than 260 feet) and never noticed any overload....which frankly is amazing for such a low budget little radio! However, this may have something to do with my location here in Australia. I can imagine that signals are much stronger in the northern hemisphere around Canada/US and Europe, so perhaps that explains why you have noticed a little overloading. Reading other reviews and comments over the years, I do believe that Tecsun does have a quality control problem with various radios across the range of models. This is a pity and hopefully can be resolved in the future. For others reading this, my advice is if you get a Tecsun radio that seems not to be performing correctly, return it and ask for another one of the same model! I have constantly been amazed at the sensitivity of this little radio. Perhaps you have seen my sensitivity tests UA-cam video several years back, where I put the 680 up along side the big desktop Yaesu FTDX3000? In terms of sensitivity, the 680 certainly holds its own very well. That video is at ua-cam.com/video/1YdC0m2m7Vw/v-deo.html Thanks again and best 73, have a great holiday season. Rob VK3BVW
Great Radio review of the Tecsun Pl 680... Can a guy get anymore "articulate".... You're very good at speaking and in explaining the pros & cons of a product, your presentation is outstanding....
Curious thing about this radio, when I first got it, the fm and mw bands were off by about 3 kcs on mw and maybe 4 kcs on fm, was corrected with the sync , had to look that up. I currently own a 680, a 660, an 880 thats used for fm streaming at the moment. A pl990 (not x) a grundig g5, and two ccranes ssb, both 1 and 2.
My opinion, the best for the buck and the best reception: Ultra portable: Tecsun PL-310ET, and the Medium portable: this, the Tecsun PL-680. I can't see going wrong with the former as a travel SW radio, and the latter for a home SW radio, with the SSB and Air bands that I like! One question, are silver bodies of the radios better than the grey, charcoal and black bodies when it comes to heat build up? Thanks for the revisit! 73s!!! Steve Thomas aka DX Bear!
Tecsun PL 680 has been updated ?? Which would be better option PL 680 or PL 660 ?? because they have the same value I'm in doubt and I need help to decide to make the purchase.
Hi, a lot of time has passed since your last review, but what would you say for a factory-renewed version of the PL-660? The latest production version of the PL-660 has the software changes used earlier in the PL-680. I dont give details of the changes now because I don't know whether you're still interested in this model, and by the way this post is shorter. Due to different electronic and electrical components (eg. speaker, etc.) this new variant can't be completely compatible with the PL-680 but there are significant effects of software changes. The casing of the renewed PL-660 remained unchanged, the price is the same as the PL-680. In my country, the exclusive Tecsun seller offers it since the beginning of 2016. Would you buy such a model or is it producer's specific trick to sustain production, what do you think?
I like the way this radio looks, I prefer its more angular chassis. If someone from Tecsun reads this, please consider a few suggestions. The first thing I would suggest is to put a PL-660 or PL-680 into a PL-600 chassis. The PL-600 has up/down buttons in addition to the tuning knob. The PL-600 also has the option of keeping the light on full-time. The tuning meter on my PL-660 reads full with almost anything; even static can make its meter read "5." It would be a great improvement if Tecsun could make its tuning meter adhere something more meaningful and standard like the SINPO code. A signal level of 1 means that the signal is barely audible, and a signal level of 5 means that the signal is comparable to a strong local station.
I went ahead and got the 680 hoping but doubtful it well get any decent reception even with 300 feet of old army field wire alligator clipped to the antennae. I have a feeling I’ll be doing too much troubleshooting trying to find a effective antennae but I’ll keep trying.
Hey sir, i have a BIG problem with my tecsun pl-680, when i turn the tuning knob, some times it goes reverse on the screen, any advice? 🥺 thank you sir.
Superb review. Absolutely outstanding. I think I’m about to spend £150 (gbp). I just so hope it’s up t9 the job. The cost of this radio is making me nervous! It’s my first SW radio, would say it’s a good start? Thanks, Lance
Hi there love your videos and I have a question: I just got the PL - 680 and the timer a and b in very small letters keep going back and forth flashing on the radio. Do you know how to get them to go away?? Thank you sir!
Yes and yes. There’s a setting for turning off the recharging feature (it’s defaulted to on)
4 роки тому+1
Hi all, I bought me a pl 680. I have some problems with it... On thebwhole sw band if i turn the tuning knob on noneven khz it seems more sensitive then on even khz. If i switch to ssb noneven and even switch over. On ssb when i turn the bfo after a bout a quarter to the plus the receiver is slowly cutting out reception. On ssb sync this does not hapen. But in sync mode ssb i can not get a reception that is audible. I can not tune poppely an it adds lots of static. I compared reception with mu Degen dl 1102 and my Lowe HF-225 europ. They perforn normal wthout the even/noneven khz probs. Afcourse thay do not have sync detection. The seller claimes it is all a static problem. I wonder if this is the case? For the bfo afcourse static can not be the reason... Is this allighment? I hope someone can tell me if this is a radio problem? Ernst-Jan
It could be off by a kHz some of them are on the 680
4 роки тому+1
@@OfficialSWLchannel Off by one khz is not a problem for me. The strange effect when changing one khz after an other were it switched from almost dead to normal reception and this on every band on the radio. Also de vfo that almost kill reception when turned to max +...? I like to know if others have similar behaviour. Ernst-Jan
4 роки тому
The one kHz off problem is easy to correct. You can use the same procedure as for the 660
4 роки тому
I found that it is easy to correct an offset frequency on this radio. It works separately on am, and ssb in wide and narrow mode. It worked the same as the pl 660. It is easy and worked grate. Mine was of by 5 kHz in wide am modus
I have it since spring 2017. The FM sensitivity of this radio is the worst I ever tried in my life. Airband - the same. Bad! Totally disappointing. MW is good, despite all say it is somewhat under mediocre. Shortwave is really good, I am happy with it.
Received this receiver two years ago as a gift. I really enjoy it.
Thanks for the review, Gilles. My 680 is about two years old and has also worked very well. I have also experienced the lower volume issue on SSB. But I have had none of the other problems you mentioned in this video. On DXpeditions out in the bush, dealing with very weak signals where there was no or very little movement of the S-meter, I have not had the volume suddenly disappear at all. So I'm not sure why your radio has this quirky characteristic. Strange.
I have not experienced any overload with an external antenna either. I've connected antennas that are 80meters long (more than 260 feet) and never noticed any overload....which frankly is amazing for such a low budget little radio! However, this may have something to do with my location here in Australia. I can imagine that signals are much stronger in the northern hemisphere around Canada/US and Europe, so perhaps that explains why you have noticed a little overloading.
Reading other reviews and comments over the years, I do believe that Tecsun does have a quality control problem with various radios across the range of models. This is a pity and hopefully can be resolved in the future. For others reading this, my advice is if you get a Tecsun radio that seems not to be performing correctly, return it and ask for another one of the same model!
I have constantly been amazed at the sensitivity of this little radio. Perhaps you have seen my sensitivity tests UA-cam video several years back, where I put the 680 up along side the big desktop Yaesu FTDX3000? In terms of sensitivity, the 680 certainly holds its own very well. That video is at ua-cam.com/video/1YdC0m2m7Vw/v-deo.html
Thanks again and best 73, have a great holiday season. Rob VK3BVW
I just ordered this nice radio to my collection.Amazon had it for $149.99 not bad for a radio with many features
Great Radio review of the Tecsun Pl 680... Can a guy get anymore "articulate".... You're very good at speaking and in explaining the pros & cons of a product, your presentation is outstanding....
Nice radio. Fm mw 4⭐ sw 5 ⭐ no opportunity for aiband. Greetings from Greece 🇬🇷
I bought a pl 660...instead of 680 and 880,it is damn good...because of its reputation I bought that.
This is a better review than the first one!. Thanks Guilles. 73, Rob, YS1RS.
I love my PL-680. It would have been nice to have metal knobs like the PL-880 has.
Curious thing about this radio, when I first got it, the fm and mw bands were off by about 3 kcs on mw and maybe 4 kcs on fm, was corrected with the sync , had to look that up. I currently own a 680, a 660, an 880 thats used for fm streaming at the moment. A pl990 (not x) a grundig g5, and two ccranes ssb, both 1 and 2.
My opinion, the best for the buck and the best reception: Ultra portable: Tecsun PL-310ET, and the Medium portable: this, the Tecsun PL-680. I can't see going wrong with the former as a travel SW radio, and the latter for a home SW radio, with the SSB and Air bands that I like! One question, are silver bodies of the radios better than the grey, charcoal and black bodies when it comes to heat build up? Thanks for the revisit! 73s!!! Steve Thomas aka DX Bear!
Tecsun PL 680 has been updated ?? Which would be better option PL 680 or PL 660 ?? because they have the same value I'm in doubt and I need help to decide to make the purchase.
The tuning knob seems wobbly.
Gilles your utube videos are awesome
Hi,
a lot of time has passed since your last review, but what would you say for a factory-renewed version of the PL-660?
The latest production version of the PL-660 has the software changes used earlier in the PL-680.
I dont give details of the changes now because I don't know whether you're still interested in this model, and by the way this post is shorter.
Due to different electronic and electrical components (eg. speaker, etc.) this new variant can't be completely compatible with the PL-680 but there are significant effects of software changes. The casing of the renewed PL-660 remained unchanged, the price is the same as the PL-680.
In my country, the exclusive Tecsun seller offers it since the beginning of 2016.
Would you buy such a model or is it producer's specific trick to sustain production,
what do you think?
I like the way this radio looks, I prefer its more angular chassis. If someone from Tecsun reads this, please consider a few suggestions. The first thing I would suggest is to put a PL-660 or PL-680 into a PL-600 chassis. The PL-600 has up/down buttons in addition to the tuning knob. The PL-600 also has the option of keeping the light on full-time. The tuning meter on my PL-660 reads full with almost anything; even static can make its meter read "5." It would be a great improvement if Tecsun could make its tuning meter adhere something more meaningful and standard like the SINPO code. A signal level of 1 means that the signal is barely audible, and a signal level of 5 means that the signal is comparable to a strong local station.
I forgot, enabling the external antenna connection on the standard AM and long wave bands would be nice.
Gilles your Tecsun Pl 680 mw lwfm SW ssb 5 bands receiver is cool
your unit with several years of use looks mint. mine with 1 year looks awful lol
Nice review! Little concerned about some of the issues you had especially how the tuning knob came off??
I went ahead and got the 680 hoping but doubtful it well get any decent reception even with 300 feet of old army field wire alligator clipped to the antennae. I have a feeling I’ll be doing too much troubleshooting trying to find a effective antennae but I’ll keep trying.
You must of been in the military. Just got mine in yesterday. Gonna start getting used to it. Thanks for the info.
Hey sir, i have a BIG problem with my tecsun pl-680, when i turn the tuning knob, some times it goes reverse on the screen, any advice? 🥺 thank you sir.
If you could choose between the PL680 or the PL880 which one would you pick and why? Thanks for the videos Gilles :)
PL880 is quite nice , but each have their strong points, here the Sync detector is amazing, not so on 880
Mein PL-680 wurde schon defekt geliefert, habe es zurückgeschickt und warte seit 6 Wochen auf ein Ersatzgerät . . . . .
Superb review. Absolutely outstanding. I think I’m about to spend £150 (gbp). I just so hope it’s up t9 the job. The cost of this radio is making me nervous! It’s my first SW radio, would say it’s a good start?
Thanks, Lance
I just bought one. It's superb.
@@ag3ntorange164 yes great radio! Use the long wire on SW, it’s superb.
Enjoy your new purchase!
Do a review on the pl 660
Which Tecsun would you suggest in 2023?
Hi there love your videos and I have a question: I just got the PL - 680 and the timer a and b in very small letters keep going back and forth flashing on the radio. Do you know how to get them to go away?? Thank you sir!
How do I get one of those short wave listening radio stands
Hello, my PL 680 won’t came out of the AIR function. Any tips to get it back to am or fm reception? Much appreciated
quick press on the up or down buttons on the bottom right of the radio
What radio is better the 680 or 880 trying to see what one is better to buy
pl990可能会更好，160美元
I can test it for you and give you the actual offset..
How does it compare to S-2000 and S-8800?
1. Can I use disposable AA batteries instead of rechargeable batteries?
2. Can you turn off the power completely?
Yes and yes. There’s a setting for turning off the recharging feature (it’s defaulted to on)
Hi all,
I bought me a pl 680. I have some problems with it...
On thebwhole sw band if i turn the tuning knob on noneven khz it seems more sensitive then on even khz. If i switch to ssb noneven and even switch over. On ssb when i turn the bfo after a bout a quarter to the plus the receiver is slowly cutting out reception. On ssb sync this does not hapen. But in sync mode ssb i can not get a reception that is audible. I can not tune poppely an it adds lots of static.
I compared reception with mu Degen dl 1102 and my Lowe HF-225 europ. They perforn normal wthout the even/noneven khz probs. Afcourse thay do not have sync detection.
The seller claimes it is all a static problem. I wonder if this is the case? For the bfo afcourse static can not be the reason...
Is this allighment?
I hope someone can tell me if this is a radio problem?
Ernst-Jan
It could be off by a kHz some of them are on the 680
@@OfficialSWLchannel Off by one khz is not a problem for me. The strange effect when changing one khz after an other were it switched from almost dead to normal reception and this on every band on the radio. Also de vfo that almost kill reception when turned to max +...? I like to know if others have similar behaviour.
Ernst-Jan
The one kHz off problem is easy to correct. You can use the same procedure as for the 660
I found that it is easy to correct an offset frequency on this radio. It works separately on am, and ssb in wide and narrow mode. It worked the same as the pl 660. It is easy and worked grate. Mine was of by 5 kHz in wide am modus
I have it since spring 2017. The FM sensitivity of this radio is the worst I ever tried in my life. Airband - the same. Bad! Totally disappointing.
MW is good, despite all say it is somewhat under mediocre. Shortwave is really good, I am happy with it.
I sold myTecsun PL-680